Peel back this Michigan lakeside house’s cool slate exterior to reveal a warm wooden home

On a leafy site in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, Lakeside House sits within a plume of shrubbery and trees. Designed by Michigan-based Disbrow Iannuzzi Architects, the Y-shaped home, composed mostly of timber and slate, is rooted in juxtapositions and materiality.

Tour Lakeside house in Detroit, Michigan

The client, a former curator of Asian art and gallery owner, wanted to incorporate her collection of handcrafted objects into the residence, which was also inspired by her family’s heritage in the lumber industry. Taking both elements into account, the architecture firm worked with just two primary materials in the project, white ash and black slate – an architectural yin and yang of light and darkness, creating contrasts within the home.

‘The client purchased the property in 1980 and had been cultivating the landscape for 40 years before we started designing a new home on the site of her old home,’ says architect and studio co-founder Jonathan Disbrow. ‘Referencing landscapes from Japanese woodblock prints, one of the primary design inspirations was the framing of expansive views to the site from inside the home.’

All the slate used in the build came from the same quarry and was used for the roof and stone walls, and compacted for the driveway. The sun’s movement played an important role in creating texture and detailing, highlighting the beauty of the slate's striations at different times of day. The play of sunlight and shadows on surfaces makes for a moody and ever-changing ambience.

The incorporation of white ash boards provides warm relief to the cool slate tones. Applied to the ceiling, wall and floor surfaces, it evokes Scandinavian minimalism, while creating a rich and comforting interior in striking contrast to the house's darkly enigmatic exterior.

‘I want visitors to appreciate the nuanced use of wood and stone and how the perception of each can be dramatically different depending on how they are being used and the time of day,’ Disbrow says.

‘I also want people to be drawn to the curated landscape scenes that are the focal points of each room,’ he adds. To this end, floor-to-ceiling glass walls allow unobstructed views out. Timber joinery frames the green landscapes outside, nodding to those Japanese woodblock prints that the client has in her collection.

In an expansive glass hallway, the landscape seems to become part of the interiors. This is Disbrow’s favourite part of the project, he explains: ‘The glass hallway allows views through the courtyard, anchored by an old weeping crabapple tree, and the veranda into other parts of the home from each wing. In the evenings, the warm lighting reflecting off the wooden interior makes the experience particularly wonderful.’

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